One time I was quizzed about how some people supposedly choose Christ but don’t choose to be disciples of Jesus. I commented, “And how miserable they are.”
My questioner was surprised, because playing around with sin isn’t miserable, is it? Yes, it is. You constantly battle with yourself. You fancy some cute man or woman at work but berate yourself for such thoughts. You waffle back and forth wondering if you should or shouldn’t help a needy person. You muddle over whether it’s so important to get the details exactly right on the tax form. Your life is lived with a foot in two different worlds.
This torment is caused by duplicity. God lets us be miserable because he respects our ability to make choices. If we choose to live a life of fragmented purposes, God does not force us to get our heart right. Yet in the long run, keeping our heart right is much easier. Jesus’ yoke really is easier, and his burden is lighter.
TODAY’S EXPERIMENT - Identify the issues you are sick and tired of muddling over: people you wish to control; making more money; acquiring a certain item; having more clout, respect, or admiration. Perhaps you’ve brooded so long over something that if you relinquished it you would feel as if a part of you died.
In a certain sense, that’s true. Yet walking through this death to self (“becoming like him in his death”) holds the key for participating in a resurrected sort of life with Christ (“attaining to the resurrection from the dead”) (Philippians 3:10-11, NIV). Tell Jesus your fears about such a death to self. Ask him to show you how your life would actually be easier if you just gave up on all these things, how love and joy and peace would be at your right hand.
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